


Towards Tomorrow, with a Sailor Yell

by elfiepike



Category: Perfume (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Girls, Gen, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 19:18:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5468000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfiepike/pseuds/elfiepike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A-chan sometimes laughed to realize that she no longer thought of the day she got her powers as The Day She And Her Two Best Friends Became Superheroes, even though it still stands out as one of those unforgettable moments, with Princess Kyary appearing in her TV like the girl from <em>Ringu</em>, if the girl in <em>Ringu</em> had been wearing neon gothic lolita and trailed dancers and court nobles behind her. Also, it was right in the middle of an episode of Music Station, so not the most ominous of entrance moments.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Towards Tomorrow, with a Sailor Yell

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aeslis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeslis/gifts).



A-chan sometimes laughed to realize that she no longer thought of the day she got her powers as The Day She And Her Two Best Friends Became Superheroes, even though it still stands out as one of those unforgettable moments, with Princess Kyary appearing in her TV like the girl from _Ringu_ , if the girl in _Ringu_ had been wearing neon gothic lolita and trailed dancers and court nobles behind her. Also, it was right in the middle of an episode of Music Station, so not the most ominous of entrance moments.

Still, that was all hindsight; at the time she'd been sixteen years old, hanging out with her best friends and pretending they were working on homework when A-chan's mom obviously knew they were going to be giggling about cute boys and trying to sing along with emotional ballads. And then: a girl, emerging from the TV in a blur of static and sparks, the volume from the TV wavering across the room like the speakers were going out.

A-chan clutched for Kashiyuka and Nocchi and they'd all screamed loud enough that A-chan's mom, two rooms over, had yelled back, asking if they were okay, her steps approaching quickly down the hall before the girl in the bubblegum petticoats had blinked her enormous eyes at the door and the whole room had been wrapped up in pink and candy and cakes.

"Oh my god!" Nocchi cried, gripping A-chan's arm so hard that bruises bloomed up later, the only thing that really convinced A-chan it had happened.

"What's going on?" Kashiyuka gasped, halfway between A-chan and the back of the couch where they'd been watching for their favorite idol group. It was both odd and comforting that A-chan's family furniture had managed to come into this alternate universe, standing out like a beige thumb, lumpy and recognizable in a landscape of sugar.

"Who are you?!" A-chan yelled, brave in the way she often felt when startled, like there was no choice but to confront (and then maybe hide, but again: all she had was her friends and a couch older than she was). "And how did you get into my TV?!"

The dancers fanned out behind the girl, their faces brightly painted with strange patterns in green and gold, and the girl said, "I'm Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, princess of the Capsule Kingdom, and I'm here because you three are going to save the world."

Her voice was so light, and as if she was talking through a parfait at the same time. Her eyelashes sparkled in patterns that A-chan was sure were also communication, maybe Morse code. She was dazzling, and also royalty, and those are big influencers for a sixteen year old who was failing math and not really sure about any of the extracurricular clubs at her school, especially since a bunch of boys in her grade kept trying to confess to her.

"When do we start?" A-chan asked, still nervous, but anticipatory, too, the sugar in the air infusing her system.

Princess Kyary's smile was the most subtle upturn at the corners of her mouth, but with it came a genuine feeling of approval, so much that Nocchi loosened her grip, and Kashiyuka came out from between A-chan and the couch to see better.

Thusly had begun their strange relationship with Princess Kyary and the Capsule Kingdom, and strange only in part because of Princess Kyary's penchant for communicating through highjacked internet clips about cute boys in costumes as bright as her royal wardrobe. The Capsule Kingdom was rightfully more of another plane of existence, one from which objects and beings could sometimes slip through onto Earth, but said objects weren't _supposed_ to be on Earth, bending reality just enough for the oddities to be traceable, and noticeable enough to cause problems if left around for too long.

The qualifications for being Saviour of the World, it turned out, were along the lines of being really good at a scavenger hunt, and it was possible that Princess Kyary had been overstating their roles just a touch.

"You three are already the best at finding the lost artifacts on your own," she told them, leading them from the strange candy place that used to be A-chan's TV room into the rest of her house. A-chan's mother was standing frozen in time in the hallway, and it weirded A-chan out to look at her like that, sharing a horrified glance with Nocchi and Kashiyuka before Princess Kyary seemed to notice their concern. "Oh, I'll be taking this time with me when I leave, the only difference will be what I give to you," she said in her parfait voice, and continued through the house to A-chan's room, to the shelf of treasures A-chan and Nocchi and Kashiyuka had come across when walking home from school together: a bell that made no noise but shaking it would make an animal fall asleep; a set of gloves with eyes embroidered on the back that would let you see through walls; a pink pen that drew pictures in every other color.

"Oh," Kashiyuka said, behind A-chan mostly because it was hard to fit Princess Kyary, and A-chand, and Nocchi, and Kashiyuka, and Princess Kyary's entourage into A-chan's single-bed room. "You mean the weird stuff?"

Princess Kyary nodded, handing each item to one dancer, who then handed it to another, and so on down the line, until the shelf was empty.

"I don't think the manga was from Capsule Kingdom," Nocchi said.

Princess Kyary held the book so that Sailor Moon's classic pose could be seen. "May I borrow it?"

"Sure--yeah, that's fine," A-chan said, nodding.

One by one they trooped back down into the confectionary TV room, where Princess Kyary gave them each a silver bracelet with a different charm: a cupcake for A-chan, a macaroon for Nocchi, and a single-scoop ice cream sundae for Kashiyuka. "Whenever you find something, you can use these to contact me," she said, and, with a blink, the room was de-sugared, and with another blink, the whole company was gone.

+

They hadn't had the powers at first; meeting Princess Kyary was just a prologue, one where she sent them on missions that typically involved the three girls getting obscure hints (one time Princess Kyary told them they were looking for "something with a little cold" and they found a very cute and sad-faced heart plush toy) and attempting to figure them out between school and homework and important teen stuff like feeling awkward around boys and worrying about college. The tasks became something to look forward to, something that made the three girls even more excited to meet up after school.

Then Princess Kyary had sent them after a lion: _that_ was when they got their powers. And still: not from Princess Kyary.

"Like, a real lion?" Nocchi asked. "Are we looking in a zoo?"

Princess Kyary had already turned back into a variety show on A-chan's TV. (The beige couch had been replaced, though: somehow it had never quite recovered from its first meeting with Princess Kyary, and A-chan's mom found sugar hidden in the seams no matter how much it was cleaned. The new couch was blue.)

They spent the whole next day brainstorming where they might find a lion, and whether Princess Kyary was being even more obscure than usual, but it turned out that she was, for once, being quite literal, if misleading. As school let out and everyone started checking their phones for messages and plans and games, one girl in their grade let out a surprised shock: "There's a lion downtown!"

The girls shared a look, and then A-chan said, "I'll text my mom that I'm studying with Nocchi." Nocchi and Kashiyuka nodded, getting out their own phones to text their parents down the chain. (Despite using this excuse for months, their parents never said anything to them about it. A-chan thought her mom was benignly letting her get away with things so she would learn the value of studying when she failed her exams.)

They took the bus downtown and followed the commotion to the toy store. (There might not be anything quite as unreal as the sense of growing unease while waiting for a bus driver to help an old lady off at her stop.) The area had been cordoned off by the police already, but there were so many people with their cell phones out, and the few staff members of the store hysterically explaining to a police officer ("It's not a real lion! But it came into the store and started to knock everything over!") provided a good distraction, so the three girls ducked low and slid into the shop, uninterrupted.

A-chan had halfway been expecting a real lion, or maybe just a really _big_ plush toy, or someone wearing a shirt saying I AM LION, but what they found wasn't any of those things: a lion, but more like a person in a lion suit, except it was obviously not a costume, the fur both soft in appearance and clearly designed for the muscles behind it. And there was a strange slick trail of glitter on the floor, marking out the path of destruction it had made on its way to the candy displays.

They huddled behind a display of Pokemon merchandise. "What do we do?" Kashiyuka whispered, more baffled than anything else.

"I don't--we can tell Princess Kyary we found it?" A-chan slipped her bag onto the floor, already reaching under her sleeve for her bracelet.

Maybe A-chan should have been whispering too: the not-quite-lion turned at the sound of A-chan's voice, its eyes glassy and expression stiff, sewn-on. "Distract it!" A-chan shouted, fumbling with her bracelet, Kashiyuka also scrambling for hers.

It turned out a not-quite-lion was easily distracted by glittery bouncy balls, up until the point that Nocchi ran out of the glittery ones and the not-quite-lion seemed startled and displeased by the appearance of a lime green one from the next bin over.

"Why isn't there any answer!" Nocchi yelled, throwing a set of pens and then trying her own bracelet.

"I guess normally we're near a TV when we do this!" A-chan answered.

"Look!" Kashiyuka pointed, and there, the only TV in the small store was behind the not-quite-lion, screen dark and cracked down the middle.

The not-quite-lion narrowed its glassy eyes at them. A-chan threw a Pikachu at it, and beaned it directly on the nose. "Whoops, I'm sorry--oh no!"

That sewn-on face could roar, the noise huge and vibrating along A-chan's ribcage, vibrating the very shape of the world, it felt like--and it must've done just that, ripping a hole in empty space that swirled like water under glass.

The roar kept reverberating even after the not-quite-lion's giant mouth was closed again, the lion standing almost upright and wearing trousers with dangly bits along the hems. It looked at them--glared, maybe, but it was hard to tell through the costumey quality of its face--and then leapt straight into the hole.

There was a moment of inaction, where the only noise in the shop was the soft mournful crying of a baby doll.

"What do you think Princess Kyary would do if we just let it go?" Nocchi said, half a question and half a proposal, still holding the empty glitter bouncy ball container. Her uniform was askew, the normally prim shirt half untucked and half covered in dust, but then again A-chan and Kashiyuka were no better off.

"I'm not sure I want to find out," A-chan confessed.

"So...we go in after it?" Kashiyuka asked.

The edges of the hole rippled, and the moment of peace cracked right behind it. "We've gotta go after it!" A-chan yelled. "Let's go together!" She held out her hands for Nocchi and Kashiyuka, and, taking a deep breath in unison, they ran after the not-quite-lion.

After that, A-chan lost some time. There was darkness, and then light, and then colors--but the next thing she knew, she was in a forest, still running and holding hands with Kashiyuka and Nocchi, but so tired, her legs and feet aching as if they'd been running for hours. She gasped for air and then tripped over nothing.

The other two stopped and huddled over her, fussing and asking if she was okay.

"I'm fine," A-chan said, "just tired! Where are we?" She sat up, looking around. The forest seemed like a forest built for a school play, cut-outs and bright colors, but with no backdrop in sight. On the ground there was still a glittery trail, though it blended in better with the strange shadowy turf.

"I'm trying not to think about it until after we find the lion," Kashiyuka said.

"Can you stand?" Nocchi asked.

A-chan nodded.

There was no choice but to follow the trail, though this time they did at a walk, careful of their steps, taking in the alien landscape with wonder and fear.

Now that A-chan was aware of time passing, it wasn't just her feet that ached, but the damp edge of sweat building on her hairline, the way her tag itched the back of her neck, the slowly building hunger in her belly.

Apparently it wasn't such a slow hunger for Kashiyuka. "Ah," she cried out suddenly, "why didn't we bring our bags? I still have a snack in mine!"

"Maybe we can find something?" A-chan didn't want to admit that she was at a total loss, and also starving.

"Does anyone else smell apples?" Nocchi asked.

They followed the trail around the trunk of a large not-quite-tree, and then, there it was: an apple tree, recognizable as such as if they were back home in an orchard (one with just a single tree, but still). There was even a convenient sign staked into the earth below it: APPLES, it said, AS MANY AS YOU CAN CARRY.

"It looks like maybe we were too late," A-chan said. She could smell the same apples Nocchi could, fresh and crisp and making her hungrier than before, but there didn't seem to be any apples on the tree at all.

Nocchi pointed. "I see one there!" She let go of A-chan's hand and there, hidden behind a cluster of leaves, was a beautiful apple. Nocchi tugged it carefully and then less carefully until it was free.

"Oh, there's another up there on the top!" Kashiyuka said, letting go to climb up the trunk, grasping the fruit waiting on the highest branches for her. Her hair got caught on the way down, but soon she was holding her prize on the ground.

A-chan walked around the trunk, hoping for just one more. She knew the others would share, of course, but what good would two apples do for three growing teenagers? It wouldn't be satisfying.

And there, on the other side of the tree, was the biggest apple she'd ever seen, heavy in her arms when she held it, needing both hands to do so. "Look at this!"

Kashiyuka and Nocchi laughed at her. "That's so over the top!" Kashiyuka said around her giggles.

"Just like you to find one so enormous," Nocchi grinned.

A-chan beamed, but it was a short-lived euphoria. "Are we really going to eat these?"

"We could also die of hunger," Kashiyuka said, serious.

"Let's do it at the same time," Nocchi said.

They each bit into their fruits on the count of three, and it was the most delicious apple A-chan had ever eaten, crisp and sweet. Even though their apples were all different, they all finished at the same time; even though it was just an apple, A-chan felt totally satisfied.

"Ah, that was soooo good," she said, stretching out, her knuckles brushing against a branch. It was just a light tap, but the branch cracked as if she'd hit it with intention and great force.

"Watch out!" Nocchi shouted as the branch started to fall, but then there was Kashiyuka, pushing the fallen limb to the side--from mid-air.

"What's going on?" Kashiyuka cried, seeing her feet off the ground and then getting higher up with anxiety. A-chan grabbed for her hand to hold her down.

A booming rumble filled the air, shaking the fruitless branches of the apple tree, resolving slowly to words, but understood in their bodies and not their ears: " _I see that you've eaten of my land._ "

Nocchi gasped, falling back to A-chan's side as the not-quite-lion entered the clearing, and at the sound, a cold wind came from her mouth, turning into a thick fog.

The not-quite-lion made a noise that was not quite a laugh, deep and thrumming, but seemed to dispel the fog. Kashiyuka floated slowly down next to A-chan, her long hair fluttering behind her. Despite how scary the not-quite-lion had been in the toy store, seeing how relaxed it was in this forest, and how it made no move to get any closer to them, well--it was reassuring.

" _Now that's you've eaten of my land,_ " the not-quite-lion continued, " _you can tell Princess Kyary that I have safely arrived home._ "

"How did you end up in that toy store, anyway?" A-chan asked, curious now that the not-quite-lion wasn't roaring at them and breaking child-sized xylophones.

Here, in this world, there was nothing costumey about its face, but rather something more kind, the eyes twinkling and the face smile-like. " _Let's just say that there was a party in the Capsule Kingdom that got a little too wild. Now let me get_ you _home_." It lifted one regal paw.

"Wait--what about--the flying? And the fog? And the tree branch?" A-chan asked.

" _They should make your life very interesting, no?_ " There was a sound like a doorbell behind them, most specifically like the one at A-chan's house.

They turned around, and there was A-chan's front door, the same as it would be if A-chan were looking at it on her way home, planted in the ground where the apple tree had been.

A-chan wanted to ask more questions, but the doorbell rang again, and the day had been so long already.

" _Come and visit me anytime_ ," the not-quite-lion said, and the door opened, A-chan's mom standing there.

"Girls! Where have you been? The police came by earlier with your school bags!" A-chan's mom scolded them, tugging them inside and fussing over the leaves in their hair.

It was only after they were finally settled in and watching a drama together, lumped up on the new couch and Princess Kyary come and gone with just a wink for all their efforts, that the day sank in.

"Oh my gosh," A-chan said. "Kashiyuka, can you still fly?"

Kashiyuka grinned, embarrassed. "I think I've been flying for ten minutes already without noticing." She was floating just barely off the seat of the couch. "I don't know how to come back down. What about Nocchi's fog?"

Nocchi blinked and opened her mouth. "I'm not even sure that was me--oh," she said, the cold wind coming out again. "What about your amazing punch, A-chan?"

"I don't know how to test that--" Nocchi passed over a can of soda, the aluminum thick to prevent damage.

"Crush it!" Nocchi said.

And so A-chan did, and it was easier than crumpling up a piece of paper. "Wow!"

"Yay!" Kashiyuka cheered.

"I'm so glad tomorrow is a day off," A-chan said. "Let's figure out what we can do!"

The other two quickly agreed, and then A-chan's mom was in the room again, telling them it was time for Kashiyuka and Nocchi to go home.

Before bed, A-chan tried crumpling another soda can, and got so excited by her success that she couldn't sleep for hours.

Of course, it was ages before they weren't accidentally using their abilities in public, and even longer before Princess Kyary gave them missions that required them in the first place, and perhaps they weren't properly _superheroes_ until a villain appeared--but even now crumpling a soda can made A-chan grin.

**Author's Note:**

> Context notes: A mild depression is called a "cold of the heart" in Japanese; Japanese canned beverages are typically much more sturdy than American ones so it is in fact impressive that A-chan can crush one.
> 
> The title is from the Sailor Stars opening theme song, translation from [sailormoonmusic.net](http://sailormusic.net/lyrics/sailor-star-song/).


End file.
